Activities

The Asian Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and Education (ASPIRE) League, a university consortium including Tokyo Tech, hosted its first event, the ASPIRE Forum, on July 5 and 6, 2010 at Tokyo Tech Front.

In July 2009, the vice presidents of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Tsinghua University (China), and Tokyo Tech unanimously agreed to bring together Asia’s top universities of science and technology as a consortium to produce education and research results through joint activities and exchanges. At that time, the group was tentatively named the “Consortium of the World-Leading Technical Universities in Asia;” however, to further the aims set out by the Consortium, the name was changed in 2010 to the “Asian Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and Education (ASPIRE) League.”

Tokyo Tech President Kenichi Iga opened the Symposium held on the Forum’s first day, sharing a presentation on education and research at Tokyo Tech to more than 100 faculty members, researchers and students from the five ASPIRE member universities.

Later, representatives of each of the five member universities introduced research related to the Forum’s theme of Science and Technology for a Sustainable World. The presentations, which highlighted each university’s respective sustainability-related research, aimed to address what kind of contribution the ASPIRE League can make to science and technology for a sustainable world. Energetic discussions of global issues and new technologies followed.

After the symposium, a ceremony was held to commemorate the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the ASPIRE League’s member universities. Through this agreement, the ASPIRE League was officially established.

After the signing ceremony, vice presidents, faculty, students and senior staff of the member universities engaged in relaxed discussions of university collaborations, research cooperation and global challenges. Students even sang songs from classical Chinese opera, contributing to an almost festive atmosphere.
The Vice Presidents and Senior Staff Meeting was held on the second day of the Forum. Participants addressed future League activities and shared various ideas on how to publicize activities outside the consortium.

Approximately twenty students from the five universities participated in a workshop conducted as part of the Forum. Initially, participants from each university shared presentations on their university’s best examples of international research cooperation. Later, the students were divided into three groups to explore what kinds of international cooperation activities would be desirable for graduate students. Finally, representatives of each group proposed ideas regarding possible directions for inter-university cooperation in presentations to the leaders of the five ASPIRE League universities. The numerous questions and comments elicited from the university leaders made the experience a valuable one for the students. Participants later commented that they hoped to join other student exchanges conducted through the ASPIRE League in the future.

With confirmation of the five member universities’ commitment to cooperate in education and research, thereby contributing to sustainable development in Asia, the curtain closed on the first ASPIRE Forum.